The Review Dodge.

The provincial government is calling on one of the oldest dodges in the book to cope with the bad news coming out of TransLink and BC Ferries.

Rather than face up to the tough choices that are going to be made to keep the entities set up by their own government operating in the black, Transportation Minister Shirley Bond and Finance Minister Colin Hansen have asked the comptroller-general to conduct a wide-ranging review of both organizations based on the notion that if only they were better managed, they could build new transit lines, float more boats and keep the buses running without any increases in fares, taxes or tolls.

Right. It’s just make-believe to think that Translink’s funding problems are caused by its executives’ salaries and not, as Frances Bula’s reported, the fact that it gets less non-local–e.g., provincial–funding than other, comparable transit authorities. Pretending otherwise isn’t solving any problems.